Sony Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar 16-35 mm f/2.8 T* SSM review - Chromatic aberration

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Sony Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar 16-35 mm f/2.8 T* SSM

4 August 2009

Arkadiusz Olech

5. Chromatic aberration

When we use the Zeiss 16-35 mm lens with a Sony A100 or other reflex cameras, equipped with a sensor with the sides 1.5x smaller than full frame, chromatic aberration might be a problem mainly for the most difficult combination- this of the maximum relative aperture and the shortest focal length. There, aberration borders average and high level so, unfortunately, it can be easily perceived.

Sony Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar 16-35 mm f/2.8 T* SSM - Chromatic aberration

If we stop down by 1EV though, it drops to a medium level and if we stop down by 2 EV, it is just on the border between the average and low. For longer focal lengths the problem becomes less serious. In this case the aberration is just average (it doesn’t exceed 0.1%) and for the most aperture/focal range combinations - only low.

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Of course full frame is more demanding so more problems occur - it can be seen in the chart below.

At 16 mm and by most of useful apertures the aberration level is high and only from f/16 to f/22 it decreases to the level of average/high borderline. Fortunately, the 24-35 mm range is a lot better and here aberration is back to its average level at most.